tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post7995736080097050863..comments2024-03-14T04:35:06.209+13:00Comments on Beattie's Book Blog - unofficial homepage of the New Zealand book community: “I’m Methusalah – It’s Time to Go”Beattie's Book Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01505389626725979100noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-17166767690736379282017-03-11T09:57:30.814+13:002017-03-11T09:57:30.814+13:00I knew Fred rather well, as even before he opened ...I knew Fred rather well, as even before he opened the shop he was going with my sister Cary, who designed and painted the shop sign, by the way. Before that he rented shelf-space in the Atlantis Bookshop round the corner, which was at that time run by the Jackson brothers - Jim and David(?). Cary and I shared a flat in Southampton Row and Fred spent a lot of time there. I in turn was often to be found hanging out in his shop, helping when I could and getting in the way the rest of the time. Before he got into serious bookselling he was chief pattern-cutter for Mary Quant. A dear man - I could go on forever. I now run a bookshop...Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16215175526046897471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-72378900906634296512011-01-20T00:00:26.927+13:002011-01-20T00:00:26.927+13:00I read this with a mixture of nostalgia, sadness a...I read this with a mixture of nostalgia, sadness and pleasure. I was lucky enough to visit Fred's shop almost from it's opening day, 1969 I think. Pure chance, as my dad brought me a book, Daniel Blum's Pictorial History of the Silent Cinema, for Christmas. I had to find out where he got it, and that was that. Over the next 15 to 20 years I visited the Cinema Bookshop as often as I could, usually every day, as I arranged to do some studies up the road at University College London, specifically because it was close to Fred's shop. After I moved to the US, sadly visits were less frequent. I consider the Cinema Bookshop part of my growing up, it instilled in me a love of books, and a passion for film. Both have never left me. It was a loss in so many ways, too many to list really, when Fred's shop closed. I loved the shop, the smell of the books, the mysterious back room and basement, both of which I never got to see, but most of all I miss Fred.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com